Sociologists challenge the view that domestic violence is confined to the behaviour of a few sick individuals, they argue that there are sociological explanations for domestic violence, domestic violence is far too widespread to be simply the work of a few disturbed individuals according to the British crime survey domestic violence accounts for almost a sixth of all violent crime also domestic violence does not occur randomly but follows particular social patterns.
Kathryn Coleman found a pattern that women were more likely than men to have experienced intimate violence across all types of abuse, to back up Coleman, Mirrlees Black similar found that most victims are women and 99% of incidents are committed by men and that 1 in 4 women will experience abuse and assault by their partner, this is confirmed by research conducted by Russell and Rebecca Dobash they cite examples of wives being slapped, beaten , raped or killed by their husbands however they argue that marriage legitimates violence against women because husbands tend to be in charge and women are often dependent.
Radical feminists help explain why abuse patterns are concentrated around women and why they are more likely to be victims of abuse by men. Kate Millett and Shulamith Firestone argue that all societies have been founded on patriarchy; men are seen as the oppressors and exploiters of women, for radical feminists widespread domestic violence is inevitable in a patriarchal society and serves to preserve the power men have over women, they see male dominance over institutions as the reason police and courts are reluctant to deal with cases of domestic violence efficiently. To explain why most domestic violence is committed by men radical feminists argue that